UST JDG Chapter 19

◄ JDG 19 ► ║ ═ ©

19 At that time the Israelites had no king.

There was a Levite who lived in a remote place in the hilly area where the people of the tribe of Ephraim live. He had married a woman as a secondary wife. She was from the city whose name is Bethlehem that is in the area where the tribe of Judah lives. 2 But his secondary wife was unfaithful to him, and then she left him and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She kept living there for four months. 3 Then her husband went to Bethlehem to try to persuade her to live with him again. He brought his servant and two donkeys with him. When he arrived at her father’s house, she invited him to come in. When her father saw him, he was happy that he had come. 4 The woman’s father insisted that he stay for a visit. So he stayed there for three days. During that time, he shared meals with his host and slept in his house. 5 On the fourth day, they all got up early in the morning because the Levite wanted to travel back home that day. But his wife’s father said to him, “You should really have something to eat before you go so that you are not hungry on your journey.” 6 So the two men had a meal together. Then the wife’s father said to the Levite, “Please agree to stay another night. Relax and have a good time.” 7 The Levite wanted to leave, but his wife’s father finally persuaded him to stay again that night. 8 On the fifth day, the man got up early and prepared to leave. But the woman’s father said to him once again, “You should have something to eat.” So the two men once again had a meal together, and they did not finish until the middle of the afternoon. 9 Then the Levite got up to leave with his wife and his servant. But the woman’s father said, “Please do not leave. See how the sun is getting lower in the sky. See how dark it is getting already. You should stay here tonight and have a good time. Then you can leave on your journey tomorrow morning and get all the way home in one day.” 10 But the Levite did not want to stay for another night. So he put saddles on his two donkeys and left with his wife and his servant. They traveled as far as the city of Jebus, which people now call Jerusalem. 11 It was late in the afternoon by the time they got to Jebus. So the servant said to his master, “I know that the Jebusite people group lives in this city, but I think we need to stop and stay here for the night.” 12 But his master told him, “No, it would not be good for us to stay here where foreign people live. There are no Israelite people here. We should go on to the city of Gibeah.” 13 He told his servant, “Instead of staying here, we can go a little farther to a city where Israelites live. We could stay for the night in either Gibeah or Ramah.” 14 So they continued walking. By the time they reached Gibeah, where people from the tribe of Benjamin live, the sun was setting. 15 So they stopped there in Gibeah to stay for the night. They went into the public square of that city and sat down as travelers did who were hoping that someone would give them a place to stay. But no one who went through the square invited them to stay in his house for the night. 16 But then an old man came by. He had been out working in the fields all day. He was from the hilly area where the people of the tribe of Ephraim live. But at that time, he was living in Gibeah. He did not belong to the tribe of Benjamin as most of the people there did. 17 When he saw the Levite in the open area, he realized that he was traveling and did not have a place to stay in that city. So the old man asked him, “Where have you come from? And where are you going?” 18 The Levite replied, “We are returning from Bethlehem in Judah to my home in the hilly area where the people of the tribe of Ephraim live. I went from there to Bethlehem. However, before we return to my home, we are going to the sacred tent in Shiloh. No one here has invited us to stay in their house tonight.” 19 But wanting to be polite and not wanting to impose, the Levite continued, “However, we have straw and grain to feed our donkeys. And I and my wife and our servant have bread and wine to eat and drink. So we do not need anything else.” 20 The old man said, “I will take care of you. I will provide you with a place to stay. I do not want you to have to spend the night in the open square.” 21 Then the old man took them to his house. He gave food to their donkeys. He gave the man and the woman and the servant water so they could wash the dust from the road off their feet. Then the old man served them a meal. 22 While they were having a good time together, a group of very wicked men from that city surrounded the house and started to bang on the door. They shouted to the old man whose house it was, “Bring out the man who has come to your house! We are all going to rape him!” 23 The old man whose house it was went outside to talk to them. He told them, “Please do not commit such a crime against this man! We are all members of the same community. I have offered this man shelter and safety in my home. You should respect that and not do such a terrible thing to him! 24 Listen, I have an unmarried daughter living with me in my home. This man’s wife is also here. I will bring them out to you, and you can have sex with them and do whatever you want to them. But do not do such a terrible thing to this man!” 25 But the men did not agree to do what he had said. So the man pushed his wife outside the house where those men were. They forced her to have sex with them. They abused her all night long. At dawn, they finally let her go. 26 The sun was rising when the woman got back to the old man’s house, where her husband was staying. But she collapsed at the doorway and remained there until it became light. 27 That morning, her husband got up and unlocked the doors and left the house to continue his journey. But he saw his wife lying there at the doorway of the house. Her hands were on the doorsill. 28 He said to her, “Come on, we can go now.” But she did not answer, because she was dead. He put her body on one of the donkeys, and he and his servant traveled back to his home. 29 When he arrived at his home, he took a knife and cut his wife’s body into twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece into the territory of each of the tribes of Israel, along with a messenger to tell what had happened. 30 Then everyone who saw a piece of the body and heard the message said, “Nothing like this has happened since our ancestors came here from Egypt! No one has heard of such a terrible thing! We all need to think carefully about this, and people should say what they think we should do in response.”

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